Estimating the effective degrees of freedom in univariate multiple regression analysis

The general linear model provides the most widely applied statistical framework for analyzing functional MRI (fMRI) data. With the increasing temporal resolution of recent scanning protocols, and more elaborate data preprocessing schemes, data independency is no longer a valid assumption. In this paper, we revise the statistical background of the general linear model in the presence of temporal autocorrelations. First, when detecting the activation signal, we explicitly account for the temporal autocorrelation structure, which yields a generalized F-test and the associated corrected (or effective) degrees of freedom (DOF). The proposed approach is data driven and thus independent of any specific preprocessing method. Then, for event-related protocols, we propose a new model for the temporal autocorrelations (“damped oscillator” model) and compare this model to another, previously used in the field (first-order autoregressive model, or AR(1) model). In the case of long fMRI time series, an efficient approximation for the number of effective DOF is provided for both models. Finally, the validity of our approach is assessed using simulated and real fMRI data and is compared with more conventional methods

Les masques trompeurs de la bipolarité: étude de 100 cas

Le trouble bipolaire (TB) est une pathologie dont la prévalence est estimée à 1-2 %. Le diagnostic précoce du trouble constitue un enjeu thérapeutique majeur. L'objectif de ce travail est de déterminer les différents diagnostiques attribués aux patients bipolaires avant de recevoir le diagnostic adéquat et de préciser le délai moyen du retard diagnostique. C'est une étude descriptive transversale portant sur 100 patients atteintsde TB, inclus selon les critères du DSM V, qui ont été vus en consultation ou bien hospitalisés dans le service de psychiatrie de l'hôpital Militaire Avicenne de Marrakech, durant une période de deux ans. L'âge moyen des patients était de 29,5 ans avec une prédominance masculine (80%). 40% de nos patients ont reçu au début un autre diagnostic que celui du TB et le premier diagnostic retenu était celui de l'épisode dépressif majeur dans 36% des cas, suivi de l'accès psychotique aigu dans 28% des cas, la schizophrénie dans 16,8% et le trouble de personnalité dans 10,2%. Le délai moyen du retard diagnostic était de 64 mois. 50% des patients ayant reçu un autre diagnostic avaient consulté au moins un psychiatre et 60% des patients avaient été hospitalisés au moins une fois avant le diagnostic du TB.Les errances diagnostiques du TB sont bien établies, conduisant forcément à un retard de prise en charge adéquate .Ces données devraient alerter les psychiatres pour favoriser un meilleur dépistage de la manie et de l'hypomanie qui restent les éléments clé du diagnostic du TB

Effect of annealing temperature on structural, morphology and dielectric properties of La0.75Ba0.25FeO3 perovskite

The effect of annealing temperature on the structure, morphology and dielectric properties of La0.75Ba0.25FeO3 compound prepared by the sol-gel method was investigated. The increase of the annealing temperature from 900 to 1100 °C, promotes an increase of the average grain size value. Two dielectric relaxations are detected using the dielectric modulus formalism, attributed to grain and grain boundary relaxations. This behavior was confirmed by both Nyquist and Argand's plots of dielectric impedance and Modulus results at different measuring temperatures. The ac conductivity could be described by Jonscher's power law revealing the presence of both overlapping large polaron tunneling and non-overlapping small polaron tunneling mechanisms.publishe

THE USE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION OF BUILT CULTURAL HERITAGE/ THE CASE OF THE STATUE OF FOUARA, SETIF, ALGERIA

The present paper deals with the techniques using the laser scanner survey in the restoration of the statue of Fouara in Setif, Algeria. This statue which is made of marble was realized by Francis de St Vidal in 1899 that represents a nymph which is a part of the fountain, publicly displayed in the center of the city's main plaza. On 18 December 2018, a man defaced the statue, removing the facial features and breasts with a hammer and chisel.As a matter of fact, the build cultural heritage in Algeria is in danger from attacks and reaction time deterioration with age. Following the day of the incident, our team has been called to use a previous scanner laser survey of the nymph that was stored in our cultural heritage monument database in order to help the restoration of the missing part of the nymph (the face and the breast. as matter of fact, the original laser scanning survey provided a helpful and accurate details to support the restoration of the nymph.</p

Longitudinal changes in functional connectivity of cortico-basal ganglia networks in manifests and premanifest huntington's disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is a genetic neurological disorder resulting in cognitive and motor impairments. We evaluated the longitudinal changes of functional connectivity in sensorimotor, associative and limbic cortico-basal ganglia networks. We acquired structural MRI and resting-state fMRI in three visits one year apart, in 18 adult HD patients, 24 asymptomatic mutation carriers (preHD) and 18 gender- and age-matched healthy volunteers from the TRACK-HD study. We inferred topological changes in functional connectivity between 182 regions within cortico-basal ganglia networks using graph theory measures. We found significant differences for global graph theory measures in HD but not in preHD. The average shortest path length (L) decreased, which indicated a change toward the random network topology. HD patients also demonstrated increases in degree k, reduced betweeness centrality bc and reduced clustering C. Changes predominated in the sensorimotor network for bc and C and were observed in all circuits for k. Hubs were reduced in preHD and no longer detectable in HD in the sensorimotor and associative networks. Changes in graph theory metrics (L, k, C and bc) correlated with four clinical and cognitive measures (symbol digit modalities test, Stroop, Burden and UHDRS). There were no changes in graph theory metrics across sessions, which suggests that these measures are not reliable biomarkers of longitudinal changes in HD. preHD is characterized by progressive decreasing hub organization, and these changes aggravate in HD patients with changes in local metrics. HD is characterized by progressive changes in global network interconnectivity, whose network topology becomes more random over time. Hum Brain Mapp, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Maladie de Crohn colique et psoriasis : une association rare

Le psoriasis et la maladie de Crohn (MC) font partie des maladies inflammatoires chroniques à médiation immunitaire. Les liens nosologiques, génétiques, immunologiques et les facteurs environnementaux qui les influencent sont très semblables. L’atteinte cutanée représente la manifestation extradigestive la plus habituelle de la MC, parfois inaugurale. Le pyoderma gangrenusum, l’aphtose et l’érythème noueux sont fréquemment décrits, le psoriasis en est très rarement associé. Nous rapportons une observation de psoriasis associé à la MC. L’intérêt de notre travail est de décrire une association rare, ainsi que les particularités de sa prise en charge

Spectrometric Analyses, Structure and Voltammetric Study of Nickel(II) with N[(1E) Phenylmethylene N2[2(2Hydroxyphenylmethylene]Amino ethyl) Imidazolidin-1-yl Ethylamine

The reaction of N[(1E) phenylmethylene N2[2(2hydroxyphenylmethylene]amino ethyl) imidazolidin -1-yl ethylamine ligand (H 3 L) with nickel(II) salt, by heating at 40°C and addition of NaOH in excess, was made by eliminating of the phenol substituted imidazolidine ring, giving the mononuclear nickel(II) complex of the deprotonated bis-salicylaldehyde-triethylenetetramine (L −2 ). UV-Vis, FTIR and structural resolution show an octahedral geometry for [NiL]·6H 2 O complex. This compound has been characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction study. This technique reveals that Ni-H 2 L involves a high-spin nickel(II) ion within a pseudo-octahedral geometry. The Ni(II) complex has NiN 4 O 2 coordination sphere as established from a crystal structure determination. The crystals of Ni(II) complex are tetragonal, space group P4/ncc, a = b = 19.348 A; c = 13.201 A. R(F) value (0.0528) found shows a very good precision of the determined geometrical parameters. Cyclic voltammetry of nickel complex is indicative of electronic communication between the nickel center via Schiff base ligand. The results obtained confirm the imidazolidine ring-cleavage reaction and the elimination of the substituted phenol on this ring and show that the presence of H 3 L ligand around the metallic center stabilizes the oxidation of the Ni(II) to Ni(III)

A survey of haptics in serious gaming

Serious gaming often requires high level of realism for training and learning purposes. Haptic technology has been proved to be useful in many applications with an additional perception modality complementary to the audio and the vision. It provides novel user experience to enhance the immersion of virtual reality with a physical control-layer. This survey focuses on the haptic technology and its applications in serious gaming. Several categories of related applications are listed and discussed in details, primarily on haptics acts as cognitive aux and main component in serious games design. We categorize haptic devices into tactile, force feedback and hybrid ones to suit different haptic interfaces, followed by description of common haptic gadgets in gaming. Haptic modeling methods, in particular, available SDKs or libraries either for commercial or academic usage, are summarized. We also analyze the existing research difficulties and technology bottleneck with haptics and foresee the future research directions